Vulnerability
by ElissaCousland
Summary: "Go away, Fang", "Nah, you're stuck with me".


-Vulnerability-

Lightning sat on the ground, resting her head against her knees as she cried softly to herself. They didn't understand. None of them did. Nobody could possibly understand the pressure she was under, trying to lead them all to a focus they didn't know how to fulfill. Let alone the fact that Serah was dead, or close enough to it that she might as well have been. Only Snow knew what she'd said to Serah.

_Worst birthday ever…_

Those words haunted her every waking thought, never giving her a moment's peace. And Snow, the arrogant jerk that he was, thought _he_ could fix things. As if he could magically find some way to turn her back to normal.

_It should have never happened…_

Tears fell faster as her guilt crashed over her in an overwhelming rush of self-loathing.

_It's my fault…_

Her sobs were louder now. Not that others could hear. She had made sure to wander well away from camp, to give herself some privacy.

_My fault…_

She didn't hear the footsteps approaching behind her.

OOOOOOO

Fang woke to the sound of someone softly crying. Her head snapped up and she immediately glanced beside her. Vanille was still asleep, curled up towards Fang in a tiny ball. Fang smiled warmly at her little sister. _Nightmare, love?_

But Vanille made no sounds and the sobs continued, small and tortured , carrying on the night air. Fang sat up now. She stretched and then glanced to where the others were sleeping around the fire. Her eyes went to Hope, because the crying was not masculine enough to be Snow or Sazh.

The boy shifted but did not wake. And the sounds were not coming from him. Now Fang's curiosity was piqued. She stood and focused in closely to the sounds, while she gave the others an appraising gaze. Lightning was absent. Lightning was not one to shirk her watch, so something must be wrong. Terribly wrong.

Instinct prompted her feet forward, towards the direction the sounds came from. After a few minutes of wandering through thick trees, she came to a small clearing. Nothing could have prepared her for the sight she stumbled upon.

Something in her chest tightened. Her heartbeat quickened.

Lightning sat on the ground, with her back to Fang, _and she was crying_.

For a moment, Fang could not reconcile the two images in her mind. Lightning, by day, and now, there was…this. Slowly, she made her approach. Lightning was so distraught, she obviously didn't hear the huntress sneak up behind her.

Fang knelt down beside her and gently placed a warm hand on Lightning's shoulder. The soldier tensed. She glanced up, and for a moment, Fang saw the vulnerability in her eyes, bloodshot, and wet with tears. Then the gaze hardened as the soldier didn't bother to wipe them from her face.

"Go away, Fang," she said in an authoritative tone.

The Oerban chuckled lightly. "You know, that tone isn't _nearly_ as effective, with tears in your eyes," she said, with a wry smile. Lightning swallowed. Her gaze shifted down to Fang's hand. _Why is she still touching me?_ That thought was immediately followed by one that she tried to ignore. _Why does it feel this way? What is she doing to me?_

"Why are you touching me?" she said, mimicking her thoughts.

Fang seemed to think about it. Then she pulled her hand away, lacing it with the other around her knees, as she shifted and sat back on her rump, mimicking Lightning's position.

"Most people appreciate the touch of another, when they feel sad. Comforts them, I guess."

"Tch," Light scoffed.

"But then again," Fang continued, "_you_ are not like most people, are you?"

Lightning rubbed at her eyes. She felt a headache coming on. The last thing she needed now was a lecture from the one who _irritated_ her the most out of all the companions she'd been saddled with. The one who constantly challenged her way of doing things.

"I said, Go away, Fang,"

Fang thought about it for a moment. "Nah, you're stuck with me. So you might as well confess what's eatin' ya, or neither one of us will get much sleep tonight,"

Lightning stood, turning on Fang with pure fury. "_If you want the lead so bad, just take it!"_ she yelled, storming off.

Fang stood up and followed, catching up to her quickly. She spun the smaller woman around, and made Lightning look at her. "Woah, where'd that come from, Sunshine? I don't wanna lead, what are you talking about?"

Lightning broke. Fang could see the lump in her throat. Her tears shimmered in the moonlight, catching the reflection and making her eyes glitter like fallen stars. "I _can't_ do this anymore," she said, barely a whisper drifting to Fang's ears on the warm night breeze.

_She's… giving up…?_

"No," Fang said, lifting her chin with one hand, forcing Lightning to meet her gaze, "You _can_…and you _will_. I-" she caught herself in time, but the moment hung suspended on the air, Lightning's desperate eyes searching hers for confirmation.

"I believe in you," Fang said finally.

Lightning swallowed, then stared at her for several more heartbeats. She reached up suddenly, claiming Fang's lips in a brain melting kiss, the huntress caught so off-guard it took her several moments to respond.

Lightning's lips were softer than Fang had imagined them to be. The soldier's kiss was awkward, inexperienced, but passionate. Fang moaned into the oral exchange, shuddering at the feel of Lightning's body pressed so tight against hers. She could feel the soldier's frantic heartbeat beneath the thin layers of her coat and sweater.

Fang's mind reeled. This was more than she had hoped for, and everything she had imagined it would be. They kissed for an unknown passage of time, escalating in passion until finally, Lightning broke away. She glanced up at Fang, panting. Her sky blue eyes had bleed to a deeper, ocean blue. The kiss had been unexpected to say the least, but now she did something Fang never could have anticipated.

The soldier threw her arms around the older woman, pulling her closer as she rested her head on Fang's shoulder. Fang embraced her, awkwardly at first, uncertain about Lightning's sudden hundred and eighty degree turn in demeanor. She relaxed and let her arms twine low about Lightning's waist when the soldier said something so soft, it was almost lost on the breeze…_almost._

"I need you."

Fang smiled, a warm feeling filling her heart as she whispered back against Lightning's hair. "You have me."

Lightning's grip tightened, her fingers digging into Fang's sari. "No," she said, pausing to look Fang in the eyes. "I _need_ you,"

Romantic tension flared to it's boiling point on the air between them. Fang knew instinctively what was coming. She had a moment to brace herself, then Lightning crashed against her demanding ground and Fang gave it up step by step until she was backed against a tree. She felt the rough bark digging harder into her back as Lightning demanded all that she had to give.

Fang guided the younger woman's tounge, teaching her to kiss. Lightning learned quickly. When Fang sucked and nibbled on her lips, Lightning responded with tender bites, flicking her tongue across Fang's lower lip. Fang responded with equal fervor, but let Lightning set the pace. The soldier dove into it headfirst, grasping Fang's breasts beneath her wrappings. Fang shivered at the rough, calloused hands, delighted in their strength against her flesh.

Lightning pulled her away from the tree to make room for them. She pushed Fang to the ground and the warrior did not resist her. Fang's hands trailed up Lightning's legs as the soldier straddled her. She smirked at the goosebumps she caused on her thighs. Lightning took Fangs hands in her own and pinned them to the ground on either side of her head. She kissed Fang again, hungry for her hot companion's lips.

Fang moaned. She grasped Lightning's ass and pulled her closer, grinding them together. Lightning gasped and sat up. Her cheeks were flushed as pink as her hair. She didn't meet Fang's eyes. Her weight shifted. Fang placed a hand at her back with a steady forward pressure. _No, don't leave!_ She sat up with Lightning still straddling her, but Lightning's hands were now in her lap.

Even sitting with Lightning in her lap, Fang was still taller. She cupped the side of Lightning's face and turned the soldier to face her. Lightning tried to look away, clearly still flustered. Fang caught her eyes and held them a moment. She leaned in slowly for a tender kiss, barely brushing her lips against the soldiers'. Lightning sighed and responded with the same gentleness. Something inside of her stirred low in her belly, that same persistent need that had begun the very moment Fang had dared to touch her. She shuddered when Fang moved her lips to her neck and placed tender, nibbling pecks along her jaw line up to the base of her ear.

That low stirring coiled tighter at the feel of Fang pulling open the belt straps on her jacket. That feeling was twinned now by a panicky sort of adrenaline. She wanted this. She had secretly dreamed about this moment, though she'd always envisioned herself with a man. Some randomly handsome knight that would come to sweep her off of her feet. She pulled back and watched Fang's face as the warrior shucked the sleevelesss leather coat down her arms.

Fang was strikingly beautiful, but her feminine features belied a rock solid strength. With Fang, Lightning felt secure, as if she could finally let go of everything, and it would be alright. Fang would be there to catch her if she fell. The girl she once was, the woman she had not allowed herself to become -Claire- surfaced slowly behind pale blue eyes.

Fang made no comment, but the fact had not escaped her keen perception. She deliberately moved in slowly for another sweet, longing kiss as she worked the straps of Lightning's thigh pouch and gun blade holster open. Lightning shifted, allowing her accessories to fall to the grass below. Her fingers laced around the back of Fang's neck and they kissed again, Lightning now leading with newfound expertise.

Fang's hands eased up the sides of Lightning's thighs and the soldier trembled, moaning into her mouth. She broke away with a breathy plea, "Fang…" The warrior moved her hands higher and inward. She watched Light- _Claire's _- face, as the woman in her lap glanced down to watch her movements. Fang cupped her gently through the fabric of her shorts. She could feel the warmth emanating from the woman's core, the moist garment confirmed in no uncertain terms that she was ready.

Fang rubbed her gently through the material of her shorts. The pink-haired woman bucked forward instantly. She met Fang's gaze and the warrior saw a thousand things pass through those lovely blue eyes. She hadn't guessed the soldier was so innocent, but it didn't surprise her in the least. Fang increased her pressure and pace, and the woman who was also Lightning rolled her hips, moaning gently as her fingers dug into Fang's shoulders for support.

Fang stopped, causing disappointed confusion in her lover's eyes. She smirked, and leaned closed for another gentle kiss, her hand slipping inside the shorts. She was quite wet by now, which was as Fang expected of course. She let the woman feel her bare touch a few moments longer. Then she kissed her harder and dipped into the slick, heated folds.

The soldier paused a moment, holding her breath when she felt Fang take her. A single set of tears slipped from her eyes, brought forth from the pain of the moment, but it was over as soon as it had begun. Fang took her free hand and wiped them away. Then she kissed each cheek in turn and whispered, "Let those be the last tears I ever see you cry."

Lightning moved in to kiss Fang once more, and gasped into her mouth when Fang moved her fingers, thrusting into her slowly. Lightning caught the rhythm quickly and matched her pace with every thrust, rolling her hips and bucking against her palm. Fang unzipped her sweater and tried to ignore the obvious advancement of Lightning's l'Cie brand as she took a breast in her free hand, turning the nipple this way and that. She broke oral contact with Lightning to tongue her breast. The soldier's head fell back with a soft moan escaping her lips at the newest attack on her senses. She wouldn't be able to take much more…

And then Fang suckled on it. Lightning gasped desperately, her fingers digging into Fang's shoulders as the huntress bit the flesh of her breast. Fang felt the snug walls she was pushing into begin to get tighter. She bit down on the nipple she was tonguing, and felt the soldier shudder violently. Fang found herself torn between wanting to continue her oral assault of Lightning's breast, and wanting to watch her newfound lover's face as she experienced her first orgasm. In the end, romance won out over sex. And Fang was glad.

It was a beautiful sight. Lightning's hard-toned, athletic young body tensed as she was wracked with waved after wave of ecstasy. Her head was thrown backward, her hair hung down like a waterfall of pink. There was a deep crease between her brows brought on by her tightly shut eyes. Her mouth hung open in a soundless cry, though Fang could see from the strain evident in her neck muscles, that it was only a matter of time. Her brand stood out, stark against the pale skin of her breasts. Her back formed a perfect, complete arch and Fang had to hold her with her free hand at her back so she wouldn't fall over. Fang circled her thumb over Lightning's center and a finger over her g-spot. The soldier's walls clamped down again and her body spasmed as she uttered a throaty groan with her final release.

Heartbeats later, when Lightning could sit up again, Fang cupped her face with her free hand as she slowly pulled the other one out. The look in the soldier's eyes was nothing like a soldier at all, nothing like _Lightning_ at all. They eyes that stared back at Fang were bare and raw and in that moment Fang knew everything about her, as surely as if the gods had gifted her with telepathy.

The woman before her had enclosed herself behind solid, impenetrable walls of thickest iron will. She had never cried, though it was obvious from the pain buried deep in her soulful eyes, that a great tragedy had occurred in her life, for which she felt wholly responsible, and was probably the main reason she was bonded so closely to her sister, who was now bound within crystal stasis. The world could crumble down around them, but the only thing that mattered, above all of it, was her sister. That responsibility was this woman's driving force, the reason they kept up such a blinding speed, barely stopping to rest for a few hours before moving on again.

Fang held her, kissed her. "I'm here for you."

"I love you…Claire."

Fear reflected in sky blue eyes. "N-no," she stammered as she got to her feet. She gave Fang a disapproving glare, and it was Lightning who stared back at her now. "I'm not Claire." she said shaking her head. She glanced down at herself, almost as if seeing herself for the first time. Her hands shook as she zipped her sweater up. Fang was still sitting on the ground, one arm resting on her knees while she leaned on the other. Lightning wouldn't meet her gaze as she bent to get her thigh pouch and holster. "Sorry," she whispered, almost ashamedly.

Fang watched her go, stumbling as tried to walk back to camp on unsteady legs. When Lightning was gone behind the line of trees, Fang mused over what had just happened. Then she noticed Lightning's jacket laying on the ground beside her. She brought the garment to her nose and inhaled deeply. It smelled of Claire's kiss. The scent brought with it the memory of what they'd just shared. She absently brought her hand to her mouth and licked her fingers clean. She had to bite them to stifle a moan at the taste of her.

_Damn it!_

What the hell had just happened? Why was Lightning so damned unpredictable? Was she truly her namesake, wild and untamable as a bolt of lightning? She growled in frustation and shoved her hand under her shorts. She was already so aroused, it didn't take long at all. She whimpered in lonesome desperation with her free arm thrown over her eyes to shield them from the moonlight.

When she returned to camp, Lightning sat resting by the fire, not quite asleep, but getting there, gun blade tucked safely in her arms. Fang didn't say a word to her, and Lightning did not look up when Fang returned her jacket to her.

Blue eyes followed the huntress as she found her bedroll and settled next to her sister. Vanille stirred and glanced up at Fang. "Mmm, where did you go?" she asked sleepily.

Fang spoke to Vanille, who settled into the crook of her arms. Green eyes watched the soldier's reaction when she replied, "Just…went for a little stroll," but the soldier gave no reaction at Fang's comment.

"So late?" Vanille muttered with a big yawn.

"That's why it's called a 'midnight stroll' Vanille," the warrior chuckled briefly, her eyes glancing back to the soldier.

Lightning acted as if she hadn't heard any of it. She merely picked up her jacket and put it on, securing it tightly with both straps.

Fang glanced down at Vanille who had gone back to sleep, then up at Lightning's still form.

_This could be you_, she thought at Lightning, regarding the way Vanille had tucked herself against the huntress and now slept with Fang as her pillow, resting her head on Fang's shoulder. Fang sighed and tucked her arms behind her head, glancing up at the stars, the image of Lightning's eyes, when she'd found her earlier playing before her in the heavens above.

Lightning glanced over at Fang and Vanille. A strange feeling started in the pit of her stomach at the sight.

_That should be me._

A/N- XD! This is my Ahh! face XD! for you lovely reviewers! This was meant to the be a oneshot, but I think you're all correct in your asessment that I could take it further. This was meant to be the first in a series of otherwise unrelated one-shots prompted by my own pondering about the things Fang makes Light feel! I'm working on the next one, and I promise it's way more upbeat than this, if a little silly, and maybe a bit OOC, and...not quite as smutty.

LiluDallas: Thanks! and it is possible. You never know when the muse will strike

RedTT: Aww, you give me waffys inside...

twistedthoughts: 8) *knucklebump*, love the icon, btw!

bleach_number_1_fan: hahaha awesome, I thought the same thing, and I love the metaphor! :3

Major_Mike_Powell_III: well, well, Major...U...R...AW3SOME! When I read ur reviews, I'm like :D and then XD and =)...Helluva job, Major! Semper-Fi! Carry on! ... ;)

Sapphire720: Thanks...and yeah...I generally don't wait long to get to the jollies... XD, unless I've got a valid excuse for a long setup, but not usually. I think at the end, Lightning was in shock and maybe even a little embarassed, thanks for the kind words.


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